The title refers to the funeral of Liam Hegarty, an alcoholic who committed suicide. His mother and eight of the nine surviving children gather at this wake in in Dublin. The novel's narrator is 39-year-old Veronica, the sibling who was closest to Liam. She looks through her family's troubled history to try to make sense of his death, revealing uncomfortable truths about the relationships. Enright has edited her text, excising passages and some redrafting. This, then, must count as a new incarnation of The Gathering.